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Archive for October 26th, 2009

I’m making a batch of ornaments to ship out with this month’s Little Black Box sample shipment. I need to make 100, so to avoid the tedium of making just penguins and cardinals, I’ve been experimenting with making some new birds.

I’m about two thirds of the way through my task and I’m astounded by how much time this is taking me. I estimated that I could do about 30 birds per hour, but it’s turning out to be about a third of that. I always overestimate my output!

I think I’m going to need a break from polymer clay for a little while. I noticed a lot of new smudges around the kitchen sink, on some of the light switches and along some of the walls in the house. It look me a little while to figure out that they all came from me. There is something about the new, softer formula of that really makes it cling to the skin on my hands after a while. Even with intense soap and water, I still retain a patina of clay and the house is starting to look once again like a steel worker lives here. I think I need to find out whatever they use to clean baby ducks soiled by oil spills, buy a bucket, and spray the whole house with it.

Clark’s job moved locations and now he is in the position to drive home for lunch once or twice a week. It’s been good for me as my day has been divided in a way that is a lot more healthy. I’ll usually work without stopping to eat until 3 or 4 o’clock if left on my own, meaning that I eat only two small meals a day. Not good.

Still, we’re both short on time, so it’s nice to eat things that can be prepared in less than 5 minutes. Today, I put rice in the rice cooker early in the morning. Then when Clark arrived I mixed up a quick batch of tuna with a little low-fat mayo and served that on a piece of seaweed on top of the rice. For garnish I sprinkled the whole thing with roasted sesame seeds.

For those of you who are a little weirded out by seaweed, I say just give it a try. It’s like eating potato chips that don’t make you feel bad and give you a full serving of green vegetables. I like eating by itself for a snack; the salty-umami flavor is divine, but it’s wonderful in a lot of dishes. Plus, it doesn’t need to be cooked or prepared in any way. Just apply it and enjoy.